Attempted bribery charges leveled at 2 Mexican officials
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Attempted bribery charges leveled at 2 Mexican officials
HEIDI ROWLEY
Tucson Citizen
March 25, 2005
Two Mexican officials have been charged with trying to bribe border officials to help them bring marijuana into Arizona.
Sonora Director of Public Safety Ramon Robles-Cota, 29, and Sonoyta Police Officer Julio Cesar Lozano-Lopez, 28, both of Sonoyta, Son., were charged yesterday following recorded interactions between themselves and a border agent.
According to a copy of the criminal complaint, Robles-Cota approached the federal agent on Jan. 5 and asked for help in getting drugs across the border. In subsequent meetings, which were taped and conducted under surveillance, Robles-Cota and Lozano-Lopez traveled to Gila Bend and Tucson to meet with the agent and arrange the transport of marijuana.
On March 15, the complaint states, both men traveled to Tucson and paid the agent $80,020 in advance and promised $25,000 per vehicle that the agent helped protect. According to the complaint, Robles-Cota also gave the agent a radio that he could use to communicate with the drug organization during the crossing.
On March 23, Robles-Cota and Lozano-Lopez were on their way to again meet with the agent in Gila Bend, when they were stopped and arrested by a Department of Public Safety officer. Two hand-held radios that had also been promised to the agent were found in the truck.
According to the complaint, Robles-Cota had asked that the border area near Menager's Dam on the Tohono O'odham Nation be open for two hours so that three to four vehicles every few minutes could move across the border. The complaint estimates that 450 or more pounds of marijuana were to be transported across the border during that time period.
U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton commented in a news release, "At it's root, corruption begins with the belief that public servants can be bought. This case serves notice on those who hold that belief, that we are watching them and will vigorously prosecute them."
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, a conviction for bribery carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.
